Asphalt roof shingles currently represent 80% of the residential roof market in the United States today. They vary in style, colors, and sizes and will continue to do so. They have a limited lifespan and are designed to be replaced multiple times during the life of the structure or home they are protecting. They are easily damaged by falling branches, hail, and often by homeowners, painters, satellite dish installers, chimney workers, and even roofers. Sometimes, the damage, in the form of holes, tears or punctures, are intentionally done by these contractors while installing communication equipment such as antennas and satellite dishes, roof jacks, ladder support brackets and roof safety equipment. Examples of such ladder support brackets and safety equipment are disclosed in U.S. Patent application No. 2004/0135037 A1, U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0278037 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,719. The installation of these devices often requires the installer to drill or puncture holes through the asphalt shingles to drive anchors into the rafters or wood sheathing beneath the shingle layers in order to secure the ladder support brackets or safety equipment to the roof. These anchors may include large common nails or screws. After the roofing job is completed and the ladder support brackets, roof jacks and safety equipment are removed, any holes, tears, or punctures must be repaired to prevent water leaks through the shingles and into the interior of the building. Regardless of how the shingles are damaged, current methods of repairing such holes, tears, or punctures simply include coating and/or filling the holes or punctures with conventional roofing cement or sealant. Although such methods have proven to be satisfactory in the short term, they are costly, time consuming, messy, unattractive and distracting from the original beauty of the shingle. If done improperly the entire hole, tear or puncture may not be completely filled and sealed and the leak will continue. And even when done properly, these methods generally fail within 7 years due to exposure to sunlight and the cyclic hot and cold temperatures which crack or dislodge this type of repair. This becomes a repeating nuisance, leak and expense for the homeowner who might have 30 years of life remaining for their shingles. If the damage is too extensive, the shingles may need to be replaced entirely, which may lead into other problems such as matching the shingles with currently available shingles or finding an available experienced repair person. Such methods require other tools such as an injecting/caulking gun and tube of sealant, or a spatula for spreading the cement or sealant from a pale of cement.
As a solution to this problem, an asphalt shingle sealing device as disclosed in copending patent application Ser. No. 14/808,195 eliminates any of the drawbacks of the current repairing methods discussed supra. The asphalt shingle sealing device relates generally to an asphalt roof shingle sealing device comprised of a single flat blank sheet of metal or rigid plastic. The asphalt shingle sealing device includes a simple, non-messy, quick and easy-to-use asphalt shingle sealing device that eliminates the need to inject or coat roofing cement or sealant into the holes, tears or punctures as employed in the current methods.
In performing roofing jobs such as those described supra, other dangers exist. According to OSHA, falls in the workplace are the leading cause of injury and death. In 2013, 294 deaths occurred by falls in construction and lack of proper fall protection in construction was number one in citations.
OSHA requires the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while working at heights that put someone at risk of falling more than 6 feet. Working on roofs is very dangerous and ridge anchor points for fall protection devices are a critical component of the PPE system. OSHA does not, however, tell workers “how” they can safely reach the ridge of a roof to install a proper anchor (because that's been a real problem up until the bracket of the present invention was invented). OSHA acknowledges this difficulty by allowing roof inspectors to climb about on roofs, unprotected by fall protection equipment as long as anchors or proper fall protection equipment is installed prior to “work” actually beginning. The installer of the first anchor point has also been waived from this requirement.
Thus, the question remains: How can workers get to the ridge of a roof safely so they can install a first safety ridge anchor or another first safety anchor device? Thus, there is a need in the industry to address this problem.
The present invention, as described in detail hereinafter, provides a solution to the problem by including a bracket having a ladder clamping mechanism and safety mechanism to which a worker's safety equipment can be attached. The bracket of the present invention may be installed easily and quickly on asphalt, cedar shake or slate roofs by a competent person. The present invention may also be adaptable to metal roofs by using a conversion bracket as discussed hereinafter. Depending on the extent of the roof, several brackets of the present invention may need to be installed on the roof. A first bracket is installed on the roof near a peripheral eve thereof by a worker standing on a ladder leaning against the edge of the roof. After the first bracket is mounted to the roof, another ladder is then raised onto the roof and inserted into the bracket and clamped in place. The worker can then attach his/her safety equipment to the bracket or ladder and safely mount the ladder lying on the roof. As the worker climbs the ladder, other brackets may be installed on the roof for further securement of the ladder holding the worker for another ladder. These other ladders may be installed in line with the previous ladder, or may be installed in side-by-side relation. Depending on the extent of the roof, the worker could then install other brackets for holding ladders or providing additional anchor points for fall protection as necessary until the ridge is reached.